ESTABLISHING THE NEW GAKDEN 17 



be used if the farm possesses one. Otherwise 

 merely plow very deep. One variation of the 

 ordinary kind of plowing is of especial value with 

 a poorly drained soil and with one so placed that 

 it dries out too slowly in the spring. Plowing 

 called "ridging" assists greatly in surface drain- 

 age; and the ridges lying up and open to the sun 

 and to the action of the air through them are thus 

 ready for use much earlier. Such careful dis- 

 criminating preparation of the ground accom- 

 plishes much towards the making of a really suc- 

 cessful garden. 



The fertilizing comes next. Much of the plant- 

 food for the season's growth needs time to make 

 it ready for use. The complete disintegration of 

 the material and the necessary chemical action 

 will take place during the late fall and winter 

 season. Therefore, autumn is the time to provide 

 the main supply of food. By fertilizers are meant 

 here all manures and composts and other natural 

 materials in which the fertile or food-producing 

 substances are partly ready for use. These 

 natural fertilizers do not include the quickly avail- 

 able commercial products. The very fact that this 

 plant-food is quickly available, ready for use, 

 assumes that unless immediately utilized it may 

 waste. For that reason, commercial fertilizers 

 are not applied until near seed time. For the fall 

 cover, use only well-rotted manures or other 

 thoroughly decomposed fertilizers ; or, best of all, 



